The beautiful Christmas tree [book review]

Zolotow, Charlotte. The Beautiful Christmas Tree. Illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. Houghton Mifflin, 1999. ISBN 0-395-91365-9. $15.00. 32 pp. All PB? Reviewed by Gabi Kupitz A man, viewed to be an eccentric by his fashionable neighbors, nurtures a neglected little tree. The man knows a secret: Living things need love and care. With the man’s attention, the little tree flourishes and so does a little boy, who occasionally joins the man on his front stoop. Together, they watch the birds gather to eat the food the man scatters for them at the foot of his pine tree. As the years pass, both man and boy grow older. The tree grows taller an asset to the neighborhood. One Christmas Eve, the boy, David, suggests that his group of carolers stop in front of the man’s house. The birds nestled around the protective foot of the man’s tree are startled and fly into the tree. A white dove lights on the tip of the pine. The other birds adorn the branches of the pine with their unusual colors, and they, too, join the carolers in singing. The man watching from behind his window knows that this is what Christmas was meant to be. Originally published in 1972, the story is timeless. Watercolor illustrations, though not full-page, convey the winter coldness of the city and the coldness of Mr. Crockett’s neighbors. As the brightly-dressed carolers and birds sing, only Mr. Crockett’s home and the pine tree show any sign of light and color.

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Zolotow, Charlotte. The Beautiful Christmas Tree. Illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. Houghton Mifflin, 1999. ISBN 0-395-91365-9. $15.00. 32 pp. All PB? Reviewed by Gabi Kupitz A man, viewed to be an eccentric by his fashionable neighbors, nurtures a neglected little tree. The man knows a secret: Living things need love and care. With the man’s attention, the little tree flourishes and so does a little boy, who occasionally joins the man on his front stoop. Together, they watch the birds gather to eat the food the man scatters for them at the foot of his pine tree. As the years pass, both man and boy grow older. The tree grows taller an asset to the neighborhood. One Christmas Eve, the boy, David, suggests that his group of carolers stop in front of the man’s house. The birds nestled around the protective foot of the man’s tree are startled and fly into the tree. A white dove lights on the tip of the pine. The other birds adorn the branches of the pine with their unusual colors, and they, too, join the carolers in singing. The man watching from behind his window knows that this is what Christmas was meant to be. Originally published in 1972, the story is timeless. Watercolor illustrations, though not full-page, convey the winter coldness of the city and the coldness of Mr. Crockett’s neighbors. As the brightly-dressed carolers and birds sing, only Mr. Crockett’s home and the pine tree show any sign of light and color.

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